Last week the Mount Airy City Council quickly approved a new ordinance banning all registered sex offenders from city parks, a copy of which can be read here.
It’s not exactly breaking new ground. Everyone from Marion to Greensboro to Gastonia to Charlotte has passed or seriously considered this ban following the dismissal of a suit on a near identical ordinance in Woodfin. No one doubts the importance of keeping children protected from child predators, the question is whether this is just a symbolic gesture or will have any tangible impact on public safety. Who enforces the policy for one thing? Will it really stop a convicted sex offender from entering the park? Will it give a false sense of security to parents?
Forcing ex offenders out of their homes and into limited”allowable” areas of our counties actually increases the risk of recidivism, rather than the opposite.
Sure it’s feel-good legislation but there is no evidence to suggest that it works. Studies and common sense suggest the opposite effect. Displacing a person from his family, home, job and stable life would obviously decrease his stability in all areas of his life.
And these banishment laws have always baffled me from the beginning; aren’t there cars and buses which can carry a dangerous person to a park or school? If someone wants to offend, do you really think 2000 feet will prevent it?
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